CHESS
Club class
Raymond Keene
Among recent publications by Perga- mon Press is Kasparov v Karpov 1990 by Geller, Lein, Chepizhny and Kasparov himself (E8.70). Unfortunately, Kasparov has limited his contribution to a lengthy interview with Chepizhny and has not annotated any of the games in the im- mensely exciting depth which he did for the 1985 and 1986 matches. The notes to the games are competent enough but I fear that Kasparov's political engagement may have the permanent effect of so pressing upon his time that we may never again see the superlatively brilliant commentaries which he produced for those two earlier books.
The Blumenfeld Gambit by two interna- tional masters, Przewoznik and Pein, is a worthy attempt to revive an Alekhine favourite which, to cite the authors, stood condemned by theory, a poor and neg- lected relative of the popular Benko and Benoni systems. The critical line against the Blumenfeld is 5 Bg5, but pioneers such as three times US champion Lev Alburt have found ways of dealing with this. As a weapon for club players it should not be underestimated.
NikoIic-Miles: Tunis Interzonal 1985; Blumenfeld Gambit.
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 c5 4 d5 b5 5 Bg5 h6 6 Bxf6 Qxf6 7 Qc2 b4 This is an improvement on the game Chernin-Miles from an earlier round where Miles had been wiped out after 7. . exd5? 8 cxd5 d6 9 e4 a6 10 a4 b4 11 Nbd2 Bg4 12 e5 dxe5 13 Ne4 Qf4 14 Nfd2 Bf5 15 Bd3 with a huge plus to White. This kind of light-squared domination is exactly what Black must avoid in the Blumenfeld. 8 Nbd2 g5 9 e4 g410 Ngl Bg7 11 Rbl h5 12 Bd3 d6 13 Net Nd7 14 f4 gxf3 15 Nxf3 Ne5 16 0-0 Qh6 17 Nxe5 BxeS 18 Khl Bd7 19 Ngl h4 20 Nf3 Bg3 A clumsy square for the bishop, but of course it is immune from capture here. 21 e5 dxe5 22 dxe6 Bxe6 23 Bf5 BxfS 24 QxfS Qf4 25 Qh3 Ke7 26 Rbdl Rad8 When we looked at this game after the round Miles told me that he had originally intended 26. . . f5 but then 27 Nd4 is most unpleasant. 27 RxdS RxdS 28 hxg3 hxg3 29 Position after 29 Qh7 Qh7 (Diagram) The situation is confusing and under the tension White goes seriously wrong. Correct would have been 29 Qh5 f6 when Black has counterplay and threatens. . Qxc4. 29.. . Rd6 White resigns. There is no defence to a check on the 'h' file.
Tarrasch-Alekhine: Pistyan 1922;
Blumenfeld Gambit.
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 e6 3 c4 c5 4 d5 b5 Black gives up a pawn, obtaining in exchange a verystrong pawn centre. The impression made by the present game was so strong that after it many began to refuse the dangerous gift. 5 dxe6 fxe6 6 cxb5 d5 Black's centre is menacing and invulnerable, while in addition he has the open 'f' file and good diagonals for his bishops. Alekhine ex- ploits these factors with great skill. 7 e3 Bd6 8 Nc3 0-0 9 Bet Bbl 10 b3 Nbd7 11 Bb2 Qe7 12 0-0 Rad8 13 Qc2 e5 14 Rfel e4 15 Nd2 Ne5 16 Ndl
Nfg4 17 Bxg4 Nxg4 18 Nfl It appears that White has everything in order, but Alekhine spots a weakness in his opponent's king position. 18.. . Qg5 19 h3 Nh6 20 Khl Nf5 21 Nh2 d4 22 13c1 d3 Position after 24 . . . Ng3+!
23 Qc4+ Kh8 24 Bb2 Ng3+! (Diagram) The decisive stroke. Although the g3 square is covered by a white pawn, Black is the master of it. 25 Kg1 Bd5 26 Qa4 Ne2+ 27 Khl Rf7 28 Qa6 h5 Black takes away the g4 square from White's knight and at the same time prepares the concluding blow. 29 b6 Ng3+ 30 Kg! axb6 31 Qxb6 d2 32 Rfl Nxfl 33 Nxfl Be6 34 Khl Bxh3!
Position after 34 . . . Bxh3!
(Diagram) White has no defence to this. 35 gxh3 Rf3 36 Ng3 h4 37 Bf6 Qxf6 38 Nxe4 Rxh3+ White resigns. The above notes are based on those by Kotov in his book Alexander Alekhine (Batsford).
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